For everyone’s favorite Italian plumber—and his brother Mario, too—the past few years have been significant. Mario and Luigi are the focal point of the most eagerly awaited new theme park land since Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and they starred in their own high-profile animated film last year. Still, we must remember their origins. The videogame that gave rise to the Mario Bros. franchise will always have two of its most significant representatives. In celebration of their legendary contributions to this still-emerging art form and in advance of the theme park and film, let’s take a look back at their last 25 years and rank every 3D game they have ever made.
Even though there aren’t any new 3D Mario games in the works right now, the mustachioed brothers will undoubtedly soon be hopping and stomping in multiple dimensions all over our TV screens once more. This tradition began with Super Mario 64 in 1996 and continued until Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury in 2021. It’s possible that I will need to load one of these games tonight.
8. Super Mario 3D Land
Surprisingly, the two Super Mario titles that truly use 3D, Super Mario 3D Land and Super Mario 3D World, don’t enjoy the new liberties that come with the 3D platformer as much as the other five games on this list. Generally speaking, the levels are more linear than the open-world sections found in titles such as Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy. Think of it as a sort of bridge connecting the classic side-scrolling Mario games with the fully realized, 3D open world games that are similar to Super Mario 64. Of these two, 3D Land was the first and is still an entertaining, well-made, and striking game. It simply isn’t as good as the other items on the list.
Original Platform: 3DS
Release Year: 2011
7. Super Mario 3D World
Though it may be the most noticeable addition to Super Mario 3D World, the cat costume is not the only innovative take on an old concept. As the game progresses, 3D World repeatedly surprises you with well-known yet subtly altered mechanics. Instead of merely repeating Mario’s past in a pointless manner, it tackles it with respect and inspiration, creating new threads from old fabric.
Original Platform: Wii U
Release Year: 2013
6. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
In relation to the 3D world… Bundled with the Wii U game’s rerelease comes Bowser’s Fury, a brief 3D Mario adventure that’s fantastic enough to put this Switch title barely ahead of the original. Bowser’s Fury is an incredibly entertaining 3D platformer that plays with the traditional Mario formula, but it has one obvious design choice that will prevent it from ranking at the top of any list of the greatest Mario games: the repeated boss battle scene eventually gets really boring. One of the most interesting games in the endless series, it almost feels like a rough draft for a future full-scale Mario game. It’s still a brilliantly designed game that’s well worth playing, even though it’s not as polished as you’d expect from the often flawless Mario.
Original Platform: Switch
Release Year: 2021
5. Super Mario Sunshine
Super Mario Sunshine, the most bizarre mainline Mario game since the American version of Super Mario Bros. 2, has had an unwarrantedly negative reputation for a long time. Is this Mario game exceptionally challenging? Yes. Are the basic gameplay, supporting characters, and environment all distinctive—almost overtly so—for a Mario game? Yes. But what’s wrong with that? Every version of an idea that has been around as long as Super Mario should aim to explore new ground. Sunshine has two strong points: it still has the trademark Mario punch of unadulterated joy, and it doesn’t hesitate to try new things against the Super Mario wall to see what sticks.
Original Platform: GameCube
Release Year: 2002
4. Super Mario Galaxy 2
With new gravity effects and circular levels that created the most detailed Mario universe to date, Galaxy 2 was an inventive and fitfully challenging platformer that, like its predecessor, had all the joy and kid-friendly wonder that one could expect from a Mario game. Additionally, even though the graphics were only in 480P, they were remarkably beautiful for the Wii, with rich alien landscapes and vivid colors.
Original Platform: Wii
Release Year: 2010
3. Super Mario 64
To claim that Super Mario 64 is among the most significant video games ever made is not an understatement. In that sense, it ranks second in Mario’s history, exactly behind the original Super Mario Bros. and possibly tied with it. Both titles had a tremendous impact on their respective genres, and Mario 64 in particular was a significant technological breakthrough for video games. Even while it’s still amazing today and a must-play for anybody interested in the medium’s history, it only ranks third on this list because its significance doesn’t make it any more amazing or entertaining than two later games.
Original Platform: Nintendo 64
Release Year: 1996
2. Super Mario Odyssey
All you want is to argue about what constitutes a “core” Mario game. To the best of my knowledge, Super Mario Odyssey is among the top two or three games ever to feature the name of that adorable little character. It is just as strong as Super Mario Galaxy or Super Mario Bros. 3, which were the previous pinnacles of Nintendo’s mascot and the platformer genre as a whole. With the freedom that open world games usually offer, Odyssey is an overwhelming feast of joy. However, it also has a steady stream of attainable goals and clear objectives that draw you further and further into its candy-colored realms. It’s the ideal companion to Nintendo’s other big Switch game of 2017, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, since both transform a traditional mainstay of the genre into a remarkably entertaining and vitally modern masterwork that bridges all gaming generations.
Original Platform: Switch
Release Year: 2017
1. Super Mario Galaxy
Even if Odyssey is fantastic, the original Galaxy is still Mario’s pinnacle in the third dimension. This is one of the most beautiful games ever created, with its striking visuals and stirring symphonic score. The fundamental ideas of 3D Mario—how these three-dimensional landscapes are shown and how Mario navigates them—are liberated from both conventional physics and rigid ideas of horizontal and vertical. With the Bee and Boo outfits, it unveiled the greatest Mario power-ups in years. Additionally, it finds applications for the Wii’s distinctive motion sensing control system that don’t feel forced or added on. Super Mario Galaxy is the pinnacle of both Super Mario and the platformer genre itself.
Original Platform: Wii
Release Year: 2007
